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SeLIiCTIONS TROM V "^-^N i,9 



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Washington, Lincoln and Bivant -^ 



EDITED WITH 



NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS 



FOR THE USE OF 



GRAMMAR AND HIGH SCHOOLS 



^Y 



HARRY T. NIGHTINGALE 

INSTRUCTOR IN HISTORY AND ENGLISH, SOUTH DIVISION 
HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO, ILL. 




CHICAGO 
AINSWORTH & COMPANY 

1898 

i! 



(^^ 






Copyright, 1897, 
By AINSWORTH & COMPANY. 



All rights reserved. 



The Poems included in this volume 
are used by permission of IMessrs. D. 
Appleton & Co., the authorized pub- 
lishers of Bryant's Poems. 



Ipreas of 

•K. 1R. flOcdabc 8. do. 

Cbicaao 



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PREFACE. 

HIS little book contains five charming selections from 
the poems of William Cullen Bryant, Washington's 
Rules of Conduct, The Farewell Address to the American 
People and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, all of which 
are required reading in the English Classics for the Second 
Term of the first year in the Chicago High Schools. 

We have also added the First Inaugural Address of 
the Mart3^red President. 

The selections are admirably adapted for reading and 
study in all Grammar and High Schools. 

Notes and Biographical Sketches have been omitted, 
as it is better to leave these to the inspiration of the 
teacher and the interest of the pupils. 

The selections from Bryant should be properly read 
and carefully analyzed in reference to their imager}^ 
metre, poetic beauty, botanical knowledge and the moral 
lesson involved, and made so attractive that pupils will be 
led to acquaint themselves more fully with America's 
greatest poet of nature. 

lyibraries abound with biographies of Washington and 
lyincoln, the two greatest characters in American history, 
and with orations and addresses concerning their influence 
in the two most critical periods in the life of the nation. 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

Some of these will, of course, be read and commented 
upon in class recitation as an important part of the exer- 
cises in connection with a more exhaustive study and 
analysis of what this book contains. Our young people 
cannot learn too much of these two great men, and every 
effort should be put forth by the teachers of 3"outh to 
induce them to study and imitate those traits of character 
which cause the people of all nations with one voice to 
call one "The Father," the other "The Saviour " of his 
country. 



WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 

November 3, 1794— June 12, 1878. 



I. ROBERT OF I.INCOI.N. 

II. TO A WATERFOWL. 

III. TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN. 

IV. WIND AND STREAM. 
V. CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. 



I^OBERT OF LINCOLN. 



■ Gladness of woods, skies, waters, all in one, 
The Bobolink has come, and, like the soul 
Of the sweet season vocal in a bird, 
Gurgles in ecstacy we know not what 
Save June, dear June, now God be praised for June." 

IvOWELL. 



Read in Scribner's Monthly, volumes VI and XII, what John 
Burroughs says of the Song of the Bobolink. Note the minuteness 
of description and the power of condensed imagination in the poem. 



" Hast thou named all the birds without a gun, 
lyOved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk." 

Emerson. 



M 



HRRILY swinging on brier and weed, 

Near to the nest of his httle dame, ' 

Over the mountain-side or mead, ■ 

Robert of Lincohi is telling his name : l 

Bob-o'-Hnk, bob-o'-Hnk, \ 

Spink, spank, spink ; 
Snug and safe is that nest of ours, 
Hidden among the summer flowers. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Robert of Lincoln is gayly drest, .• 

Wearing a bright black wedding coat ; i 

White are his shoulders and white his crest, i 

Hear him call in his merry note : 

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, l! 

Spink, spank, spink ; j 



ROBERT OF LINCOLN. 

Look, what a nice new coat is mine, 
Sure there was never a bird so fine. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Robert of Lincoln's Quaker wife, 

Pretty and quiet, w^ith plain brown wings, 
Passing at home a patient life, 

Broods in the grass while her husband sings : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Brood, kind creature ; you need not fear 
Thieves and robbers while I am here. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Modest and shy as a nun is she ; 

One weak chirp is her only note. 
Braggart and prince of braggarts is he, 
Pouring boasts from his little throat : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Never was I afraid of man ; 
Catch me, cowardl}' knaves, if you can! 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Six white eggs on a bed of hay. 

Flecked with purple, a pretty sight ! 
There as the mother sits all day, 

Robert is singing with all his might : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, vSpank, spink; 
Nice good wife, that never goes out, 
Keeping house while I frolic about. 
Chee, chee, chee. 



WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 

Soon as the little ones chip the shell, 

Six wide mouths are open for food ; 
Robert of Lincoln bestirs him well, 
Gathering seeds for the hungry brood. 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
This new life is likely to be 
Hard for a ga}^ j^oung fellow like me. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Robert of Lincoln at length is made 

Sober with work, and silent with care ; 
Off is his holiday garment laid, 
Half forgotten that merry air : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
Nobody knows but my mate and I 
Where our nest and our nestlings lie. 
Chee, chee, chee. 

Summer wanes ; the children are grown ; 

Fun and frolic no more he knows ; 
Robert of Lincoln's a humdrum crone ; 
Off he flies, and w^e sing as he goes : 
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 
Spink, spank, spink ; 
When you can pipe that merry old strain, 
Robert of Lincoln, come back again. 
Chee, chee, chee. 



TO A WA TERFO WL. 
TO A WATERFOWL 



If possible, read in Parke Godwin's biography of Bryant what 
is said about the origin, or the inspiration of this poem, one of the 
most exquisite ever written, presenting as it does, in the simplest 
and almost monosyllabic language a most beautiful picture of the 
solitary wild duck speeding his way to some far away summer 
home. Notice, also, how instinctive with religious faith is the last 
strain. This is the burden of Bryant's music— to learn through 
nature the lessons of life. 



W 



HITHER, 'midst falling dew, 

While glow the heavens with the last steps 
of day, 
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 
Thy solitary way ? 



Vainly the fowler's eye I 

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, j 

As, darkly painted on the crimson sky, j 

Thy figure floats along. i 

Seek'st thou the plashy brink •; 

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, j 

Or where the rocking billows rise and sink \ 

On the chafed ocean side ? 3 

\ 

There is a Power whose care 
Teaches thy way along that pathless coast. 
The desert and illimitable air, 

Ivone wandering, but not lost. 

All day thy wings have fann'd, j 

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, ; 

Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, ] 

Though the dark night is near. 



lo WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 

And soon that toil shall end ; 
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, 
And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bend, 

Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. 

Thou'tt gone, the abyss of heaven 
Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet, on my heart, 
Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, j 

And shall not soon depart. i 

He who, from zone to zone, 1 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, | 
In the long way that I must tread alone, i 

Will lead ni}^ steps aright. ^ 



TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN. 



To appreciate this poem, one must know the habits of the 
flower, where it grows, the season of its blossoming, the time of day,| 
its color. What lessons of the importance of observation the poem 
teaches, and how far-reaching the thoughts to which the noting of 
the peculiar habits of the simplest flower gives rise. \ 



T 



HOU blossom, bright with autumn dew, 
And colored with the heaven's own blue, 
That openest when the quiet light 
Succeeds the keen and frosty night. 

Thou comest not wdien violets lean 

O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, 

Or columbines, in purple dressed, 

Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. 



WIND AND STREAM. ii 

Thou waitest late, and com'st alone, 
When woods are bare and birds are flown. 
And frosts and shortening da3^s portend 
The aged Year is near his end. 

Then doth thy sweet and quiet e5'e 
I^ook through its fringes to the sky, 
Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall 
A flower from its cerulean wall. 

I would that thus, when I shall see 
The hour of death draw near to me, 
Hope, blossoming within my heart, 
May look at heaven as I depart. 



WIND AND STREAM. 



Here is the very essence of rhetorical personification. How 
happy is the httle child so flattered by its fleeting companion and 
how melancholy when left alone by the coquettish wanderer who 
'softly stooped to kiss the stream." It is a charming bit of verse 
and should be read aloud to bring out all its meaning. 



A BROOK came stealing from the ground ; 
You scarcely saw its silvery gleam 
Among the herbs that hung around 

The borders of that winding stream, 
The pretty stream, the placid stream. 
The softly-gliding, bashful stream. 

A breeze came wandering from the sky, 
lyight as the whispers of a dream ; 



1 2 WILLIAM CULLEN BR YANT. 

He put the o'erhanging grasses by, 

And softly stooped to kiss the stream, 
The pretty stream, the flattered stream, 
The shy, yet unreluctant stream. 

The water, as the wind passed o'er, 
Shot upward many a glancing b^m, 

Dimpled and quivered more and more, 
And tripped along, a livelier stream. 

The flattered stream, the simpering stream, 

The fond, delighted, sill}^ stream. 

Away the airy wanderer flew 

To where the fields with blossoms teem, 

To sparkling springs and rivers blue, 
And left alone that little stream. 

The flattered stream, the cheated stream, 

The sad, forsaken, lonely stream. 

That careless wind came never back ; 

He wanders yet the fields, I deem, 
But on its melancholy track, 

Complaining went that little stream. 
The cheated stream, the hopeless stream. 
The ever-murmuring, mourning stream. 



CONQ UEROR ' S GRA VE. 1 3 

CONQUEROR'S GRAVE. 



' The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. 



In this poem we are taught the love, patience, fidelity, sacri- 
fice and faith of pure womanhood. Our mothers are indeed the 
world's conquerors, and from the battles which they win comes 
the highest civilization. 



W 



ITHIN this lowly grave a Conqueror lies, 
And yet the monument proclaims it not, 
Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought 

The emblems of a fame that never dies, — 
Ivy and amaranth, in a graceful sheaf, 
Twined with the laurel's fair, imperial leaf. 
A simple name alone, 
To fhe great world unknown, 
Is graven here, and wild-flowers, rising round. 
Meek meadow-sweet and violets of the ground, 
I^ean lovingly against the humble stone. 

Here, in the quiet earth, they laid apart 
No man of iron mould and bloody hands, 

Who sought to wreak upon the cowering lands 
The passions that consumed his restless heart ; 

But one of tender spirit and delicate frame, 
Gentlest, in mien and mind, 
Of gentle womankind, 

Timidly shrinking from the breath of blame : 

One in whose eyes the smile of kindness made 
Its haunt, like flowers by sunny brooks in May, 

Yet, at the thought of others' pain, a shade 

Of sweeter sadness chased the smile away. 



14 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. \ 

Nor deem that when the hand that moulders here ^ 

Was raised in menace, reahns was chilled with fear, 

And armies mustered at the sign, as when j 

Clouds rise on clouds before the rainy East — j 

Gray captains leading bands of veteran men i 

And fiery youths to be the vulture's feast. i 

Not thus were waged the mighty wars that gave 
The victor}^ to her that fills this grave : 
Alone her task was wrought, 
Alone the battle fought ; 
Through that long strife her constant hope was staid 
On God alone, nor looked for other aid. 

She met the hosts of Sorrow with a look 

That altered not beneath the frown they wore, 

And soon the lowering brood was tamed, and took, 
Meekly, her gentle rule, and frowned no more. 

Her soft hand put aside the assaults of wrath. 
And calmly broke in twain 
The fiery shafts of pain. 

And rent the nets of passion from her path. 
By that victorious hand despair w^as slain. 

With love she vanquished hate and overcame 

Evil wdth good, in her Great Master's name. 

Her glory is not of this shadowy state. 
Glory that with the fleeting season dies ; 

But when she entered at the sapphire gate 
What joy was radiant in celestial eyes ! 

How heaven's bright depths with sounding welcomes 
rung, 

And flowers of heaven by shining hands were flung ! 



CO NO UEROR ' ^ GRA VE. 15 

And He, who long before, 

Pain, scorn and sorrow bore, 
The Mighty Sufferer, with aspect sweet, 
Smiled on the timid stranger from his seat ; 
He who returning, glorious, from the grave. 
Dragged Death, disarmed, in chains, a crouching slave. 

See, as I linger here, the sun grows low ; 

Cool airs are murmuring that the night is near. 
Oh, gentle sleeper, from thy grave I go 

Consoled though sad, in hope and yet in fear. 
Brief is the time, I know. 
The warfare scarce begun ; 
Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won. 
Still flows the fount whose waters strengthened thee, 

The victors' names are yet too few to fill 
Heaven's mighty roll ; the glorious armory. 

That ministered to thee, is opened still. 



WASHINGTON 

February 22, 1732 — December 18, 1799. 



I. RULES OF CONDUCT. 
II. FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



'Virginia gave us this imperial man, 
Cast in the massive mould 
Of those high-statured ages old, 
Which into grander forms our mortal metal ran ; 

Mother of states and undiminished men. 
Thou gavest us a country giving him." 

— I^OWELL, " Under the Old Elm. 



RULES OF CONDUCT. 

It must not be supposed that Washington was the author of 
these Rules, but that he copied them into his " writing book of 
thirty pages," which is still preserved, either from some other 
book, or as they were taught him by his parents. He was at this 
time about fourteen years of age, and they must have made a deep 
impression on his mind, as they are indices of his character and 
habits in his later years. If they seem simple, intuitive, quaint in 
language and somewhat useless as rules to be committed, we must 
remember the times in which the boy lived and all his environ- 
ments. Many of them, surely, are worth writing on the tablets of 
memory, and none of them are to be lightly set aside as unworthy 
the consideration of any boy or girl. They represent the thought 
concerning morals and manners of those who had the rearing of 
Washington in his youth, and since the "child is father of the 
man," every young person should heed them to-day. 



1. Reproach none for the infirmities of nature, nor 
delight to put them that have, in mind thereof. 

2. Superfluous compHments and all affectation of cere- ^ 
mony are to be avoided, yet where due they are not to 
be neglected. | 

3. Do not express joy before one sick or in pain, for j 
that contrary passion will aggravate his misery. ] 

4. Every action in company ought to be with some ; 
sign of respect to those present. ' 

5. In the presence of others sing not to yourself with i 
a humming noise, nor drum with your fingers or feet. 

6. Sleep not when others speak, sit not when others ] 
stand, speak not when you should hold your peace, walk j 
not when others stop. .j 



RULES OF CONDUCT. 19 

7. Turn not your back to others, especially in speak- 
ing ; jog not the table or desk on which another reads or 
writes ; lean not on any one. 

8. Be no flatterer ; neither play with an}^ one that de- 
lights not to be played with. 

9. Read no letters, books or papers in company; but 
when there is a necessity for doing it, you must ask leave. 
Come not near the books or writings of any one so as to 
read them, unless desired, nor give your opinion of them 
unasked ; also, look not nigh when another is writing a 
letter. 

10. IvCt 3'our countenance be pleasant, but in serious 
matters somewhat grave. 

11. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of an- 
other, though he were your enemy. 

12. Run not in the streets, neither go too slowly nor 
with mouth open. Go not shaking your arms, stamping 
or shuffling ; nor pull up your stockings in the street. 
Walk not upon the toes, nor in a dancing or skipping 
manner, nor yet with measured steps, Strike not the 
heels together, nor stoop when there is no occasion. 

13. Eat not in the streets, nor in the house out of 
season. 

14. A man ought not to value himself of his achieve- 
ments or rare qualities, his riches, titles, virtue or kin- 
dred ; but he need not speak meanl}^ of himself. 

15. When you meet with one of greater quality than 
yourself, stop and retire, especially if it be at a door or 
any strait place, to give way for him to pass. 

16. While you are talking, point not with 3'our finger 
at him of whom you discourse, nor approach too near 
him to whom you talk, especially to his face. 



20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

17. They that are in dignit}^ or in office, have in all 
places precedency ; but whilst they are young they ought 
to respect those that are their equals in birth or other 
qualities, though they have no public charge. 

18. It is good manners to prefer them to whom we 
speak before ourselves, especially if they be above us, 
with whom in no sort we ought to begin. 

19. Let your discourse with men of business be short 
and comprehensive. 

20. In visiting the sick, do not presently play the 
physician if you be not knowing therein. 

21. Be not tedious in discourse or reading, unless j^ou 
find the company pleased therewith. 

22. In writing, or speaking, give to every person his 
due title, according to his degree and the custom of the 
place. 

23. Strive not with your vSuperiors in argument, but 
always submit 3'our judgment to others w^ith modesty. 

24. Undertake not to teach your equal in the art he 
"\iimself professes : it savors of arrogancy. 

25. When a man does all he can, though it succeeds 
not well, blame not him that did it. 

26. Being to advise, or reprehend au}^ one, consider 
whether it ought to be in public or in private, presently 
or at some other timCj. and in what terms to do it ; and in 
reproving show no signs of clioler, but do it with sweet- 
ness and mildness. 

27. Take all admonitions thankfull}^ in what time or 
place soever given ; but afterwards, not being culpable, 
take a time and place convenient to let him know it that 
gave them. 



RULES OF CONDUCT. 21 

28. Drink not, nor talk, with your mouth full, neither 
gaze about 3'ou while 3'ou are drinking. 

29. Mock not, nor jest at an^'thing of importance ; 
break no jests that are sharp-biting, and if you deliver 
an3^thing witt}" or pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat 
yourself. 

30. Wherein you reprove another be unblamable 3'our- 
self ; for example is more prevalent than precept. 

31. Use no reproachful language against any one, 
neither curse nor revile. 

32. If you cough, sneeze, sigh or 3- awn, do it not 
loud, but privatel3' ; and speak not in your yawning, but 
put 3^our handkerchief or hand before your face, and turn 
aside. 

33. Be not hast3^ to believe flying reports to the dis- 
paragement of 2,\\y. 

34. When 3'Ou sit down, keep your feet firm and even, 
without putting one on the other or crossing them. 

35. In your apparel be modest, and endeavor to ac- 
commodate nature, rather than to procure admiration ; 
keep to the fashion of 3^our equals, such as are civil and 
orderly with respect to times and places. 

36. Play not the peacock, looking everywhere about 
3"0U to see if you be well decked, if 3^our shoes fit well, if 
3^our stockings fit neatl3', and clothes handsomely. 

37. x\ssociate 3'ourself with men of good qualit3', if 
you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone 
than in bad compan3\ 

38. L<et 3'our conversation be without malice or env3',. 
for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature; 
and in all causes of passion admit reason to govern. 



22 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

39. Be not immodest in urging yowx friend to discover 
a secret. 

40. Utter not base and frivolous things amongst grave 
and learned men ; nor very difficult questions or subjects 
among the ignorant ; nor things hard to be believed. 

41. Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, nor 
at the table ; speak not of melancholy things, as death, 
and wounds, and if others mention them, change, if 3'ou 
can, the discourse. Tell not your dreams, but to your 
intimate friend. 

42. The gestures of the body must be suited to the 
discourse you are upon. 

43. Break not a jest when none takes pleasure in 
mirth : laugh not aloud, nor at all without occasion. 
Deride no man's misfortune, though there seem to be 
some cause. 

44. Speak not injurious words, neither in jest nor 
earnest ; scoff at none, although they give occasion. 

45. Be not forward, but friendly and courteous ; the 
first to salute, hear and answer ; and be not pensive when 
it is a time to converse. 

46. Detract not from others, neither be excessive in 
commending. 

47. Go not thither where you know not whether yoM 
shall be welcome or not. Give not advice without being 
asked, and when desired, do it briefly. 

48. If two contend together, take not the part of either 
unconstrained, and be not obstinate in your own opinion ; 
in things indifferent be of the major side. 

49. Reprehend not the imperfections of others, for that 
belongs to parents, masters and superiors. 



RULES OF CONDUCT. 23 

50. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of others, and 
ask not how the}^ came. What you may speak in secret 
to your friend, deliver not before others. 

51. Speak not in an unknown tongue in company, but 
in your own language, and that as those of quality do and 
not as the vulgar ; sublime matters treat seriously. 

52. Think before 3^ou speak ; pronounce not imper- 
fectl3% nor bring out your w^ords too hastily, but orderly 
and distinctly. 

53. When another speaks be attentive yourself, and 
disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, 
help him not, nor prompt him without being desired ; 
interrupt him not, nor answer him, till his speech be 
ended. 

54. Treat with men at fit times about business : and 
whisper not in the company of others. 

55. Make no comparisons, and if any of the company 
be commended for any brave act of virtue, commend not 
another for the same. 

56. Be not apt to relate news if you know not the 
truth thereof. In discoursing of things 3^ou have heard, 
name not your author always. A secret discover not. 

57. Be not curious to know the affairs of others, 
neither approach to those that speak in private. 

58. Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be 
careful to keep your promise. 

59. When you deliver a matter, do it without passion 
and with discretion, however mean the person be you do 
it to. 

60. When 5^our superiors talk to anybody, hearken 
not, neither speak, nor laugh. 



24 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

6i. In disputes be not so desirous to overcome as not 
to give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion, and sub- 
mit to the judgment of the major part, especially if they 
are judges of the dispute. 

62. Be not tedious in discourse; make not many di- 
gressions, nor repeat often the same matter of discourse. 

63. Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust. 

64. Make no show of taking great delight in your 
victuals ; feed not with greediness ; cut your bread with 
a knife ; lean not on the table ; neither find fault with 
what you eat. 

65. Be not angry at table, whatever happens, and if 
you have reason to be so, show it not ; put on a cheerful 
countenance, especiall}^ if there be strangers, for good 
humor makes one dish of meat a feast. 

66. Set not yourself at the upper end of the table; but 
if it be your due, or the master of the house will have 
it so, contend not, lest you should trouble the company, 

67. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be 
seriousl}^, in reverence. Honor and obey your natural 
parents, although they be poor. 

68. Let your recreations be manful, not sinful. 

69. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark 
of celestial fire, called conscience. 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 25 

FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



Washington issued his farewell address to the people of the 
United States, September 17, 1796, which was a few months before 
the expiration of his second term as President. He had been men- 
tioned for a third term, and he took this course to show to T:he 
people that he did not consider it wise for him to undertake the 
responsibility of the high office another four years. 

He had earned the rest he so much craved, but was permitted 
to live only three short years in peace and retirement at his beauti- 
ful home at Mount Vernon on the banks of the Potomac, 

In reading this address, which, if not a model, is a most excel- 
lent specimen of good Knglish, we should remember that it was 
written more than a hundred years ago, and by one who had 
rendered the greatest possible service to his country. 
Ei_ Tt is a prophecy. The dangers he points out have been met 
and are by no means passed. Civil war rent the land in twain and 
its healing cost thousands of precious lives and many millions of 
borrowed treasure. The antagonism between capital and labor is 
far from being ended. 

The evils that threaten good government in our large cities 
are increasing. There is scarcely a plea or a warning in this whole 
address that is not applicable to the present condition of affairs in 
our Nation. Its reading and study should be made a most earnest 
and emphatic lesson in the duties and importance of true patriot- 
ism and high-minded citizenship. 



FRIENDS AND Fellow- Citizens : The period for a 
new election of a citizen, to administer the executive 
government of the United States, being not far distant, 
and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must 
be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed 
with that important trust, it appears to me proper, es- 
pecially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of 
the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the 



26 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

resolution I have formed, to decline being considered 
among the number of those out of whom a choice is to 
be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be 
assured, that this resolution has not been taken without 
a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the 
relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country ; and 
that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence 
in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no dim- 
inution of zeal for 3^our future interest ; no deficiency of 
grateful respect for your past kindness ; but am supported 
by a full conviction that the step is compatible with 
both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the 
office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have 
been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of 
duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your 
desire. I constantl}^ hoped that it would have been much 
earlier in my power, consistentl}^ with motives which I 
was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retire- 
ment from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The 
strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last 
election, had even led to the preparation of an address to 
declare it to 3^ou ; but mature reflection on the then per- 
plexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign 
nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to 
my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. 

I rejoice that the vState of your concerns, external as 
well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclina- 
tion incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriet}^ ; 
and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained 
for my services, that, in the prCvSent circumstances of our 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 27 

country, you will not disapprove my determination to 
retire. 

The impressions with which I first undertook the 
arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In 
the discharge of this trust I will only say that I have 
with good intentions contributed toward the organization 
and administration of the government the best exertions 
of which a fallible judgment was capable. Not uncon- 
scious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, 
experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes 
of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of 
myself ; and every day the increasing weight of years 
admonishes me more and more that the shade of retire- 
ment is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied 
that, if any circumstances have given peculiar value to 
my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation 
to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to 
quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward .to the moment which is intended 
to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do 
not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of 
that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country 
for the many honors it has conferred upon me ; still more 
for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported 
me ; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of 
manifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful 
and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. 
If benefits have resulted to our country from these ser- 
vices, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as 
an instructive example in our annals, that under circum- 
stances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, 
were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes 



28 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situ- 
ations in which not unfrequently want of success has 
countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your 
support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guar- 
anty of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly 
penetrated with this idea, I .shall carry it with me to my 
grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that 
Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its 
beneficence ; that your union and brotherly affection may 
be perpetual ; that the free constitution, which is the work 
of 3^our hands, may be sacredly maintained ; that its ad- 
ministration in every department may be stamped with 
wisdom and virtue ; that, in fine, the happiness of the 
people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may 
be made complete, by so careful a preservation and so 
prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire to them the 
glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection 
and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. 
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for 
your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and 
the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge 
me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your 
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent 
review, some sentiments, which are the result of much 
reflection, and of no inconsiderable observation, and which 
appear to me all-important to the permanency of your 
felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the 
more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinter- 
ested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have 
no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, 
as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my 
sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 29 

Interwoven as is the love of libert}^ with every Hga- 
ment of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is nec- 
essary to fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one 
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is 
a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the 
support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad ; 
of your safety ; of your prosperity ; of that very liberty 
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee 
that from different causes and from different quarters 
much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to 
weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth ; as this 
is the point in your political fortress against which the 
batteries of internal and external enemies will be most 
constantly and actively (though often covertly and insid- 
iously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should 
properly estimate the immense value of your national 
union to your collective and individual happiness ; that 
you should cherish a cordial, habitual and immovable 
attachment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and 
speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety 
and prosperity ; watching for its preservation with jealous 
anxiety ; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a 
suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned ; and 
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every 
attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the 
rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together 
the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and 
interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common 
country, that country has a right to concentrate your 
affections. The name of America, which belongs to you 



30 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

in 3^our national capacity, must always exalt the just 
pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived 
from local discriminations. With slight shades of differ- 
ence, 3^ou have the same religion, manners, habits and 
political principles. You have in a common cause fought 
and triumphed together ; the independence and liberty 
3'ou possess are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts, 
of common dangers, sufferings and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfull}^ they 
address themselves to 3^our sensibilit}', are greatly out- 
weighed by those which apply more immediately to your 
interest. Here every portion of our country finds the 
most commanding motives for carefull}' guarding and pre- 
serving the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern- 
ment, finds in the productions of the latter great addi- 
tional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise 
and precious materials of manufacturing industr3\ The 
South in the same intercourse, benefiting b3' the agency 
of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce 
expand. Turning parth^ into its own channels the sea- 
men of the North, it finds its particular navigation invig- 
orated ; and, while it contributes in different ways to 
nourish and increase the general mass of the national 
navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a mari- 
time strength, to which itself is unequall3^ adapted. The 
East, in a like intercourse with the West, alread3^ finds, 
and in the progressive improvement of interior communi- 
cations by land and water will more and more find, a val- 
uable vent for the commodities which it brings from 
abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 31 

the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, 
what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of 
necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable out- 
lets of its own productions to the weight, influence and 
future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the 
Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest 
as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can 
hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its 
own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural 
connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically 
precarious. 

While, then, every part of our countr}^ thus feels an 
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts 
combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means 
and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportion- 
ably greater security from external danger, a less frequent 
interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and, what 
is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an 
exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, 
which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied 
together b}^ the same governments, which their own rival- 
ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which 
opposite foreign alliances, attachments and intrigues 
would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they 
will avoid the necessit}^ of those overgrown military estab- 
lishments which, under any form of government, are in- 
auspicious to libert}^, and wdiich are to be regarded as 
particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it 
is that 3'our union ought to be considered as a main prop 
of 3'our liberty, and that the love of the one ought to en- 
dear to 3^ou the preservation of the other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to 



32 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the con- 
tinuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic 
desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government 
can embrace so large a sphere ? I^et experience solve it. 
To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. 
We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of 
the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for 
the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to 
the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experi- 
ment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, 
affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall 
not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will 
always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who 
in any quarter may endeavor to w^eaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our 
Union, it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that any 
ground should have been furnished for characterizing 
parties by geographical discriminations Northern and 
Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men 
may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real differ- 
ence of local interests and views. One of the expedients 
of party to acquire influence wdthin particular districts, is 
to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. 
You cannot shield yourself too much against the jealousies 
and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresent- 
ations ; they tend to render alien to each other those who 
ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The 
inhabitants of our western country have lately had a use- 
ful lesson on this head ; they have seen, in the negotiation 
by the executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the 
senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal sat- 
isfaction at that event throughout the United States, a 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 33 

decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propa- 
gated among them of poHcy in the general government 
and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in 
regard to the Mississippi ; they have been witnesses to 
the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain and 
that with Spain, which secure to them everything they 
could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards 
confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom 
to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the 
Union by which they were procured? Will they not 
henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, 
who would sever them from their brethren and connect 
them with aliens ? 

To the efficac}^ and permanency of your union, a gov- 
ernment for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, 
however strict, between the parts can be an adequate 
substitute ; they must inevitably experience the infrac- 
tions and interruptions which all alliances in all times 
have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you 
have improved upon your first essa}^ by the adoption of 
a constitution of government better calculated than your 
former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious man- 
agement of your common concerns. This government, 
the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, 
adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, 
completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its 
powers, uniting security wdth energ}^, and containing 
within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a 
just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect 
for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence 
in its measures, are duties enjoined b}^ the fundamental 
maxims of true L^iberty. The basis of our political sys- 

3 



34 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

terns is the right of the people to make and to alter 
their constitutions of government. But the constitution 
which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and 
authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory 
upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of 
the people to establish government presupposes the duty 
of every individual to obey the established government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all com- 
binations and associations, under whatever plausible char- 
acter, with the real design to direct, control, counteract 
or awe the regular deliberation and action of the consti- 
tuted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental 
principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize 
faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force ; to 
put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the 
will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising 
minority of the community ; and, according to the alter- 
nate triumphs of different parties, to make the public 
administration the mirror of the ill -concerted and incon- 
gruous projects of fashion, rather than the organs of 
consistent and wholesome plans digested by common coun- 
cils, and modified by mutual interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above 
description may now and then answer popular ends, they 
are likely, in the course of- time and things, to become 
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and un- 
principled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the 
people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of govern- 
ment ; destroying afterwards the very engines which have 
lifted them to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your government, and 
the permanency of your present fiappy state, it is requisite, 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 35 

not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppo- 
sitions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you 
resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, 
however specious the pretext. One method of assault 
may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, altera- 
tions, which will impair the energy of the system, and 
thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. 
In all the changes to which you may be invited, remem- 
ber that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the 
true character of governments as of other human institu- 
tions ; that experience is the surest standard by which to 
test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a 
country ; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere 
hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from 
the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion ; and re- 
member, especially, that, for the efficient management of 
your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, 
a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the 
perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself 
will find in such a government, with powers properly dis- 
tributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, 
little less than a name, where the government is too feeble 
to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each 
member of the society within the limits prescribed by the 
laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoy- 
ment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties 
in the State, with particular reference to the founding of 
them on geographical discrimination. Let me now take a 
more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most 
solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of 
party, generally. 



36 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 
nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the 
human mind. It exists under different shapes in all gov- 
ernments, more or less stifled, controlled or repressed ; but 
in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rank- 
ness, and is truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dis- 
sention, which in different ages and countries has perpe- 
trated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful 
despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and 
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which 
result, gradually incline the minds of the men to seek 
security and repose in the absolute power of an individual ; 
and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, 
more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns 
this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on 
the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind 
(which nevertheless ought to be entirely out of sight), 
the common and continued mischiefs of the spirit of party 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise 
people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and 
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the com- 
munity with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; 
kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments 
occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the doors to 
foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated 
access to the government itself through the channels of 
party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one coun- 
try are subjected to the policy and will of another. 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 37 

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are 
useful checks upon the administration of the government, 
and serve to keep aUve the spirit of Hberty. This within 
certain Hmits is probabl}^ true, and in governments of a 
monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if 
not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of 
the popular character, in governments purely elective, it 
is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural ten- 
dency, it is certain there will always be enough of that 
spirit for ever}^ salutary purpose. And there being con- 
stant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of 
public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to 
be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to preserve 
its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should 
consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking 
in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted 
with its administration, to confine themselves within their 
respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise 
of the powers of one department to encroach upon an- 
other. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate 
the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to 
create, whatever the form of government, a real despot- 
ism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness 
to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is 
sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The 
necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political 
power, by dividing and distributing it into different de- 
positories, and constituting each the guardian of the 
public weal against invasions by the others, has been 
evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of 
them in our country and under our own eyes. To pre- 



38 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

serve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, 
in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modifica- 
tion of the constitutional powers be in any particular 
wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way 
which the Constitution designates. But let there be no 
change by usurpation ; for, though this, in one instance, 
may be the instrument of good, it is the customary 
weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The 
precedent must always greatly overbalance in perma- 
nent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use 
can at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to politi- 
cal prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable 
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of 
patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars 
of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of 
men and citizens. The mere politician equally with the 
pious man ought to respect and cherish them. A volume 
could not trace all their connections with private and 
public felicity. I,et it simply be asked. Where is the 
security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense 
of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the in- 
struments of investigation in courts of justice? And let 
us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can 
be maintained without religion. Whatever may be con- 
ceded to the influence of refined education on minds of 
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us 
to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion 
of religious principle. 

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a 
necessary spring of popular government. The rule, in- 
deed, extends with more or less force to every species of 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 39 

free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can 
look with indifference upon attempts to shake the founda- 
tion of the fabric? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, 
institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In 
proportion as the structure of a government gives force 
to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should 
be enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and security, 
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it, is to 
use it as sparingly as possible ; avoiding occasions of ex- 
pense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that 
timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently 
prevent much greater disbursements to repel it ; avoiding 
likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning 
occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of 
peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may 
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon pos- 
terity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The 
execution of these maxims belongs to your representa- 
tives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-op- 
erate. To facilitate to them the performance of their 
duty it is essential that you should practically bear in 
mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be 
revenue ; that to have revenue there must be taxes ; that 
no taxes can be devised which are not more or less incon- 
venient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, 
inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which 
is always a choice of difficulties) , ought to be a decisive 
motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the 
government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence 



40 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public 
exigencies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations ; 
cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and mor- 
ality enjoin this conduct ; and can it be, that good policy 
does not equall}^ enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, 
enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation, to 
give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example 
of people alwa3's guided by an exalted justice and benevo- 
lence. Who can doubt that in the course of time and 
things, the fruits of such a plan w^ould richly repay any 
temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady 
adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not con- 
nected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? 
The experiment, at least, is recommended b}^ every senti- 
ment which ennobles human nature. Alas ! is it rendered 
impossible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more es- 
sential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against 
particular nations, and passionate attachment for others, 
should be excluded ; and that, in place of them, just and 
amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The 
nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred, 
or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is 
a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which 
is sufficient to lead it astra}^ from its duty and its interest. 
Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each 
more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of 
slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intract- 
able when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. 
Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed and 
bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 41 

resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, 
contrary to the best calculations of policy. The govern- 
ment sometimes participates in the national propensity, 
and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at 
other times, it makes the animosity of the nation sub- 
servient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambi- 
tion and other sinister and pernicious motives. The 
peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has 
been the victim. 

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for 
another produces a variet}^ of evils. Sympathy for the 
favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary 
common interest in cases where no real common interest 
exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, 
betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and 
wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justi- 
fication. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation 
of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to in- 
jure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily 
parting with* what ought to have been retained, and by 
exciting jealousy, ill-will and a disposition to retaliate, in 
the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. 
And it gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens 
(who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to 
betra}^ or sacrifice the interests of their own country, with- 
out odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with 
the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a com- 
mendable deference for public opinion or a laudable zeal 
for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambi- 
tion, corruption or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways 
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly 



42 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

enlightened and independent patriot. How man}^ oppor- 
tunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, 
to practice the art of seduction, to mislead public opinion, 
to influence or awe the public councils ! Such an attach- 
ment of a small or weak, tow^ards a great and powerful 
nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wdles of foreign influence (I 
conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy 
of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since his- 
tory and experience prove that foreign influence is one of 
the most baneful foes of republican government. But 
that jealously, to be useful, must be impartial ; else it 
becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, 
instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for 
one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for another, 
cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one 
side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influ- 
ence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the 
intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected 
and odious ; while its tools and dupes usurp ihe applause 
and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have 
with them as little political connection as possible. So far 
as we have already formed engagements, let them be ful- 
filled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of (primary interests, which to us have 
none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be en- 
gaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it 
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial 
ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 43 

ordinar}' combinations and collisions of her friendships or 
enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 
us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, 
under an efficient government, the period is not far off 
when we may def}^ material injury from external annoy- 
ance ; when we may take such an attitude as will cause 
the neutralit}^ we may at any time resolve upon, to be 
scrupulously respected ; when belligerent nations, under 
the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, w411 not 
lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when we may 
choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, 
shall counsel. 

Wh}^ forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? 
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of 
Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of 
European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alli- 
ances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far, I 
mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be 
understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing 
engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to 
public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the 
best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements 
be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, 
it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable 
establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we 
may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary 
emergencies. 

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are rec- 



44 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ommended by polic}^, humanity and interest. But even 
our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial 
hand ; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or 
preferences ; consulting the natural course of things ; 
diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of 
commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing with powers 
so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to 
define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the 
government to support them, conventional rules of inter- 
course, the best that present circumstances and mutual 
opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from 
time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and cir- 
cumstances shall dictate ; constantl}^ keeping in view that 
it is foil}" in one nation to look for disinterested favors 
from another ; that it must pay with a portion of its 
independence for whatever it may accept under that char- 
acter; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the 
condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, 
and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving 
more. There can be no greater error than to expect or 
calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an 
illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride 
ought to discard. 

In offering to j^ou, m}' countrymen, these counsels of 
an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will 
make the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that 
they will control the usual current of the passions, or 
prevent our nation from running the course which has 
hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may 
even flatter myself that the}' may be productive of .some 
partial benefit, vSome occasional good ; that they may now 
and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to 



FAREWELL ADDRESS. 45 

warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard 
against the impostures of pretended patriotism ; this hope 
will be a full recompense for the solicitude of your wel- 
fare, by which they have been dictated. 

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have 
been guided by the principles which have been delineated, 
the public records and other evidences of my conduct 
must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the 
assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least 
believed myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 
proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index of 
my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by 
that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, 
the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, un- 
influenced b}^ any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best 
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, 
under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to 
take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a 
neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far 
as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with modera- 
tion, perseverance and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold 
this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. 
I will only observe, that, according to my understanding 
of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any 
of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted 
by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, 
without anything more, from the obligation which justice 
and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which 



46 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of \ 

peace and amity towards other nations. : 

The inducements of interest for observing that con- i 

duct will best be referred to your own reflections and ex- j 

perience. With me a predominant motive has been to ! 

endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature I 

its yet recent institutions, and to progress without inter- ; 

ruption to that degree of strength and consistency which i 
is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command 
of its own fortunes. 

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administra- ■ 

tion, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am never- , 

theless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable i 

that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they i 

may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or ! 

mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also \ 

carry with me the hope that my country will never cease j 

to view them with indulgence ; and that, after forty-five ■ 

years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright j 

zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to ] 
oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindness i-n this as in other things, and ; 

actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so nat- ; 
ural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself 

and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate i 

with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise ; 

myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of \ 

partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign ; 

influence of good laws under a free government, the ever ' 

favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I ; 

trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers. \ 

Gkorge Washington. i 



LINCOLN 

February 12, 1809— April 15, 1865. 



I. SPEECH AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 
NATIONAL CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG. 

November 19, 1863. 

II. FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

March 4, 1861. 



' For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw, 
And, choosing sweet clay from the breast 
Of the unexhausted West, 
With stuff untainted shaped a hero new. 
Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. 

Great captains, with their guns and drums, 
Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
But at last silence comes ; 
These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame. 
The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man. 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
New birth of our new soil, the first American." 

— "I<owELL, Commemoration Ode. 



GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. 



This address, brief as it is, is one of the purest gems iu the 
whole reahii of literature. It should be committed to memory by 
ever}' pupil iu our schools. The long and studied oration delivered 
by Kdward Everett on the same occasion is one of the masterpieces 
of American rhetoric and oratory. He was our greatest scholar 
and most finished speaker, and yet these few utterances of the 
martyr President will be read by millions while the great oration 
remains dust-covered on the shelves of the scholar's library. It is 
said that Mr. Everett told Mr. Lincoln he would gladly give his 
forty pages for Mr. Lincoln's twenty lines. 

The relation of the battle of Gettysburg to the Civil war should 
be carefully studied. The field should be explained, the cemetery 
and monument described and pupils should be encouraged to learn 
all possible from books and from their friends in the Grand Army 
of the Republic, about this, the most hotly contested, bloody and 
decisive battle of the entire civil war. 



FOURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in 
Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are 
created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great bat- 
tle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion 
of that field as the final resting-place of those who- here 
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is alto- 
gether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot 
consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave 
men, living and dead, who struggled here, have conse- 

48 



GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. 49 

crated it far above our power to add or detract. The 
world will little note, nor long remember what we say 
here ; but it can never forget what they did here. It is 
for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfin- 
ished work which they who fought here have thus far so 
nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us, — that from these 
honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for 
which they here gave the last full measure of devotion, — 
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have 
died in vain, that the nation shall, under God, have a new 
birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the 
earth. 

FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



This first State paper of President Lincoln should be made 
familiar to all our 5'oung people. It may well be read in close con- 
nection with the Farewell Address of Washington. The one was 
written near the end of a career of peace, which had followed the 
establishment of the Constitution as the result of a Revolution. 
The other was delivered sixty-five years later on the threshold of 
civil war which was to be conducted for the preservation of that 
Constitution. Each breathes the spirit of the real patriot. Each 
is a warning, a plea, a prayer, a prophecy. Every boy and girl in 
the public schools of the nation should read these papers, imder 
the guidance and inspiration of a teacher thoroughly in sympathy 
with the principles and institutions which these patriots— " The 
Father" and "The Saviour" of his country — lived to foster and 
maintain. 



FELLOW Citizens of the United States : In com- 
pliance with a custom as old as the government 
itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to 
4 



50 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Consti- 
tution of the United States to be taken by the President 
** before he enters on the execution of his ofl&ce." 

I do not consider it necessary at present for me to dis- 
cuss those matters of administration about which there is 
no special anxiety or excitement. 

Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the 
Southern States that by the accession of a Republican 
administration their property and their peace and personal 
security are to be endangered. There has never been anj^ 
reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the 
most ample evidence to - the contrary has all the while 
existed and been open to their inspection. It is found 
in nearly all the published speeches of him who now 
addresses 3^ou. I do but quote from one of those speeches 
when I declare that ' ' I have no purpose, directly or indi- 
rectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right 
to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Those 
who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge 
that I had made this and many similar declarations and 
had never recanted them. And, more than this, they 
placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to 
themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution 
which I now read : 

Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
States, and especially the right of each State to order and control 
its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment ex- 
clusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the per- 
fection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we 
denounce the lawless invasion 1)y armed force of the soil of any 
State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the 
gravest of crimes. 



FIRS T IN A UG URAL ADDRESS. 5 1 

I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in doing so, I 
only press upon the pubHc attention the most conclusive 
evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the prop- 
erty, peace and security of no section are to be in any 
wise endangered by the now incoming administration. I 
add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with 
the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheer- 
fully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for 
wdiatever cause — as cheerfully to one section as to 
another. 

There is much controversy about the delivering up of 
fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is 
as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its 
provisions : 

No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but 
shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
or labor may be due. 

It is scarcel}^ questioned that this provision w^as in- 
tended by those wdio made it for the reclaiming of what 
we call fugitive slaves ; and the intention of the law giver 
is the law. All members of Congress swear their support 
to the whole Constitution — to this provision as much as to 
any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose 
cases come within the terms of this clause * ' shall be deliv- 
ered up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they 
would make the effort in good temper, could they not 
with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by 
means of which to keep good that unanimous oath ? 

There is some difference of opinion whether this clause 
should be enforced by national or by State authority ; but 



52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

surely that difference is not a very material one. If the 
slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little conse- 
quence to him or to others by which authority it is done. 
And should any one in any case be content that his oath 
shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as 
to how it shall be kept ? 

Again, in an)^ law upon this subject, ought not all the 
safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane juris- 
prudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in 
any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be 
well at the same time to provide by law for the enforce- 
ment of that clause in the Constitution w^hich guarantees 
that "the citizen of each State shall be entitled to all 
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
States?" 

I take the official oath to-day w4th no mental reserva- 
tions, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or 
laws by any hypercritical rules. And while I do not 
choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper 
to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for 
all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and 
abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to 
violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having 
them held to be unconstitutional. 

It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of 
a President under our National Constitution. During 
that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished 
citizens have, in succession, administered the executive 
branch of the government. They have conducted it 
through many perils, and generally with great success. 
Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the 
same task for a brief constitutional term of four years 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 53 

under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the 
Federal Union, heretofore onl}^ menaced, is now formid- 
ably attempted. 

I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of 
the Constitution, the union of these States is perpetual. 
Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental 
law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that 
no government proper ever had a provision in its organic 
law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the 
express provisions of our National Constitution, and the 
Union will endure forever — it being impossible to destroy 
it except by some action not provided for in the instru- 
ment itself. 

Again, if the United States be not a government 
proper, but an association of States in the nature of con- 
tract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade 
by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a 
contract may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it 
not require all to lawfully rescind it? 

Descending from these general principles, we find the 
proposition, that in legal contemplation the Union is per- 
petual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The 
Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, 
in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was 
matured and continued by the Declaration of Independ- 
ence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of 
all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged 
that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confedera- 
tion in 1778. And, finally, in 1787 one of the declared 
objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution 
was "to form a more perfect Union." 

But if the destruction of th t Union by one or by a part 



54 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less 
perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital 
element of perpetuity. 

It follows from these views that no State upon its own 
mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; that 
resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void ; and 
that acts of violence, within any State or States, against 
the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or 
revolutionary, according to circumstances. 

I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution 
and the laws the Union is unbroken ; and to the extent of 
my ability I shall take care, as the Constitution itself 
expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be 
faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem 
to be only a simple duty on my part ; and I shall perform 
it vSO far as practicable, unless my rightful masters, the 
American people, shall withhold the requisite means, or 
in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust 
this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the 
declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally 
defend and maintain itself. 

In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or vio- 
lence ; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon 
the national authority. The power confided to me will 
be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and 
places belonging to the government, and to collect the 
duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be necessary 
for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of 
force against or among the people anywhere. Where 
hostilit}' to the United States, in an}' interior locality, shall 
be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident 
citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no 



F/RS T IX A UG URAL ADDRESS. 55 

attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people 
for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in 
the government to enforce the exercise of these offices, 
the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly 
impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for 
the time the uses of such offices. 

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be fur- 
nished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the 
people ever}' where shall have that sense of perfect secur- 
ity which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. 
The course here indicated will be followed unless current 
events and experience shall show a modification or change 
to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best dis- 
cretion will be exercised according to circumstances actu- 
ally existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful 
solution of the national troubles and the restoration of 
fraternal sj^mpathies and affections. 

That there are persons in one section or another who 
seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of 
any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor denj^ ; but 
if there be such I need address no word to them. To 
those, however, who really love the Union may I not 
speak ? 

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruc- 
tion of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its mem- 
ories and its hopes, w^ould it not be wise to ascertain 
precisely why we do it? Will 3'ou hazard so desperate a 
step while there is any possibility that any portion of 
the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will 3'ou, 
while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the 
real ones you fly from — will you risk the commission of 
so fearful a mistake ? 



56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

All profess to be content in the Union if all constitu- 
tional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any 
right, plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? 
I think not. Happil}^ the human mind is so constituted 
that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. 
Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly 
written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. 
If by the mere force of numbers a majority should de- 
prive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, 
it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution— 
certainly would if such a right were a vital one. But such 
is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and 
of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirma- 
tions and negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in the 
Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning 
them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a 
provision specifically applicable to every question which 
may occur in practical administration. No foresight can 
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length con- 
tain, express provisions for all possible questions. Shall 
fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State 
authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. 
May Congress prohibit slavery in the territories? The 
Constitution does not expressly sa3^ Must Congress pro- 
tect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does 
not expressly say. 

From questions of this class spring all our consti- 
tutional controversies, and we divide upon them into 
majorities and minorities. If the minority will not ac- 
quiesce, the majority must or the government must cease. 
There is no other alternative ; for continuing the govern- 
ment is acquiescence on one side or the other. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 57 

If a minority in such case will secede rather than acqui- 
esce, the}^ make a precedent which in turn will divide and 
ruin them ; for a minority of their own will secede from 
them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such 
minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a 
new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede 
again, precisel}^ as portions of the present Union now 
claim to secede from it ? All who cherish disunion senti- 
ments are now being educated to the exact temper of 
doing this. 

Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 
States to compose a new Union , as to produce harmony 
only , and prevent renew^ed secession ? 

Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of 
anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional 
checks and limitations, and always changing easily with 
deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is 
the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever re- 
jects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or despotism. 
Unanimity is impossible ; the rule of a minority, as a 
permanent arrangement, is w^holly inadmissible ; so that, 
rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in 
some form is all that is left. 

I do not forget the position assumed by some, that con- 
stitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme 
Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding, 
in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of 
that suit, while they are also entitled to a very high respect 
and consideration in all parallel cases by all other depart- 
ments of the government. And while it is obviously 
possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given 
case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that 



58 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled 
and never bscome a precedent for other cases, can better 
be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At 
the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the 
policy of the government, upon vital questions affecting 
the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions 
of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in or- 
dinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the 
people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to 
that extent practically resigned their government into the 
hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view 
any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty 
from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly 
brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others 
seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. 

One section of our country believes slavery is right, 
and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is 
wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only sub- 
stantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the Consti- 
tution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave- 
trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever 
be in a community where the moral sense of the people 
imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of 
the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, 
and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be 
perfectly cured ; and it would be worse in both cases after 
the separation of the sections than before. The foreign 
slave-trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ulti- 
mately revived, without restriction, in one section, while 
fugitive slaves, only partially surrendered, would not be 
surrendered at all by the other. 

Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot 



F/J^S T IX A UG URAL ADDRESS. 59 

remove our respective sections from each other, nor build 
an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife 
may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond 
the reach of each other ; but the different parts of our 
countr\" cannot do this. The}- cannot but remain face to 
face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must con- 
tinue between them. Is it possible, then, to make their 
intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after 
separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier 
than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faith- 
fully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? 
Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight always; and 
when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on 
either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions as 
to terms of intercourse are again upon you. 

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary 
of the existing government, they can exercise their con- 
stitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary^ 
right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant 
of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are 
desirous of having the National Constitution amended. 
While I make no recommendation of amendments, I 
fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over 
the whole subject,. to be exercised in either of the modes 
prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under 
existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair 
opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I 
will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems 
preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with 
the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to 
take or reject propositions originated by others not espe- 



6o ABRAHAM LINCOLN. \ 

i 
daily chosen for the purpose, and which might not bei 
precisely such as the}' would wish to either accept or re-i 
fuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Consti- 
tution — which amendment, however, I have not seen — 
has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Gov-| 
ernment shall never interfere with the domestic institu-i 
tions of the States, including that of persons held to 
service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, 11 
depart from isvy purpose not to speak of particular amend- 1 
ments so far as to say that, holding such a provision tO' 
now be applied constitutional law, I have no objection to; 
its being made express and irrevocable. \ 

The chief magistrate derives all his authority from! 
the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix; 
terms for the separation of the States. The people them-^ 
selves can do this also if the}^ choose ; but the executive, , 
as such, has nothing to do with it. His dut}' is to ad-i 
minister the present government, as it came to his hands, j 
and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. : 

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the 
ultimate justice of the people? Is there an}^ better or; 
equal hope in the world ? In our present differences is i 
either party without faith of being in the right ? If the \ 
Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal truth and! 
justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of thej 
South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by; 
the judgment of this great tribunal of the American! 
people. i 

By the frame of the government under w^hich we live, 
this same people have wisely given their public servants ' 
but little power for mischief ; and have, with equal wisdom, j 
provided for the return of that little to their own hands at 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 6i 

very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue 
and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of 
wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the govern- 
ment in the short space of four years. 

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
upon this w^hole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost 
by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of 
you in hot haste to a step which you would never take 
deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; 
but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you 
as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution un- 
impaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your 
own framing under it ; while the new administration will 
have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. 
If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the 
right side in the dispute, there still is no single good 
reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, 
Christianity and a firm reliance on Him w^ho has never 
yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to ad- 
just in the best way all our present difficulty. 

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and 
not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The 
government will not assail you. You can have no conflict 
without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no 
oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, 
while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, 
protect and defend it." 

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 
strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The 
mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle- 
field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth- 



62 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



stone all over this broad land, will 3^et swell the chorus ofj 
the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by' 
the better angels of our nature. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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